M11 - Arklow to Rathnew

ITDept

In my opinion the road workers have put in a huge effort this week. At the start of the week I was really doubtful that the opening date of the 13th that everyone's predicting was possible. Tonight when I came through, both the northern and southern tie-ins looked very close to completion, almost all the signage was installed and only minor works seemed to be remaining. Fair play lads.

spacetweek

spacetweek wrote: »

Agreed - turning off lights on the mainline is fine but I don't agree about junctions.

I suspect that eliminating the lighting at junctions was a cost saving brought about after the 2008 "economic issues". There are probably other savings made elsewhere in the design that are not obvious to the average person.

vickers209

Deleted User wrote: »

I suspect that eliminating the lighting at junctions was a cost saving brought about after the 2008 "economic issues". There are probably other savings made elsewhere in the design that are not obvious to the average person.

A concrete wall for a median!!:mad: no maintenance or upkeep like with a grass one

vickers209

vickers209 wrote: »

A concrete wall for a median!!:mad: no maintenance or upkeep like with a grass one

I wasn't thinking about that one, as some of the (so called) HQDCs that later became motorways that were designed and started during the boom times used that standard as well. Those cost savings were more down to the stupidly high land prices at the time, I suspect!

The sort of savings I was thinking about are those that are less obvious, for example, would be sharper curves and steeper gradients where a larger budget would have made the road "easier" to drive.

Poochie05

Driving past today it would appear there is a southbound off ramp before the Beehive, not at the over pass, but further back towards Armstrong Motors. The blue motorway signage says exit 18 Redcross. This then appears to run along the existing southbound road towards the Beehive, with a roundabout at the junction where the potato seller would normally be (sorry not too up on the road names in this area) and on to the Beehive roundabout. Unless they fit the slip road between the 2

Cookiemunster

vickers209 wrote: »

A concrete wall for a median!!:mad: no maintenance or upkeep like with a grass one

What's wrong with the concrete median? Very few if any modern motorways anywhere have a grass median. It's either a concrete or metal barrier and no central reservation.

Schadenfreudia

So far as I know all M-ways/HQDC in Ireland are now built with the concrete barriers; it is standard practice - not a post 2008 cost cutting exercise - and not just in Ireland!

Nearly all the DC sections built after about 2002 are of that design - or occasionally have a metal barrier like Ballinalsoe-Athlone.

The M7 to Portlaoise kept the median probably to allow for possible widening some day, ditto the M4 as far as the M-way split at Enfield.

They may also have hoped to keep the median on the M11 as far as Wicklow Town, but the bizarre "environmentalists" forced them to narrow the road through the Glen of the Downs.

vickers209

Rathnew Ashford was open in 04
m50 last section was 05 but will need to be 3 lane soon enough

I just prefer the grass median just my preference but can understand the benifits of the concrete median too

Schadenfreudia

vickers209 wrote: »

Rathnew Ashford was open in 04
m50 last section was 05 but will need to be 3 lane soon enough

The Monasterevan bypass was also built with a median post 2002; but as I said the M7 and the roads you mentioned were/are intended to be eventually widened.

fred funk }{

ITDept wrote: »

In my opinion the road workers have put in a huge effort this week. At the start of the week I was really doubtful that the opening date of the 13th that everyone's predicting was possible. Tonight when I came through, both the northern and southern tie-ins looked very close to completion, almost all the signage was installed and only minor works seemed to be remaining. Fair play lads.

I agree, particularly the northern tie-in. They've done a serious amount of work there the past few days.

TechnoFreek

Great news

lottpaul

Was driving along the Arklow to Barndarrig section of the old N11 this morning and one thing occurred to me:
the M11 and the old road are very close in places and also at more or less the same elevation. Will there be an issue at night with lights from traffic on one road being mistaken for traffic on the other? In time the trees will solve the problem I suppose.
Otherwise there has been great progress since I saw it last a few weeks ago but it's difficult to see all of the work at the southern tie-in being completed and all of the final bits signed off by BAM etc for July 13th.

vickers209

Was amazed to see the northern tie in almost complete today Grabbed a few shots (I should be shot for quality of them:p)

Exit sign southbound



New Slip Road exit 18 South














(R772) will now be a local road L1100


Its looking confirmed that ballinabarney hill will be re-designated L1100






Forgotten sign

A forgotten sign and time when this road was one of busiest in the country.
In a little over 10 years its gone from a national road to a regional and now a local road

ItHurtsWhenIP

vickers209 wrote: »

...(I should be shot for quality of them:p)
...

Clean yer windscreen!

M4Girl

If you'd ever had to maintain a landscaped median you'd be begging for concrete! Putting in concrete is way more expensive than landscape, but the residual maintenance costs are tiny compared with landscape. And as for emergency entrances/exits/turn-arounds...the more the merrier. Getting to incidents when you have a 60-minute first response time and have to drive past on the other carriageway going 20km to the next junction in order to come back...meh.

I'd ban motorway lay-bys mind. Regardless of their intended purpose they are used to dump rubbish, walk dogs, have picnics, camp in; causing the maintence crews a lot more work and increasing risk to the travelling public.

spacetweek

The patched white signs look shoddy. And there's another forgotten green sign in the background, I presume that'll be changed too.

And would yeh feck off with your dog show!

dmeehan

spacetweek wrote: »

And would yeh feck off with your dog show!

vickers209

And as for emergency entrances/exits/turn-arounds...the more the merrier. Getting to incidents when you have a 60-minute first response time and have to drive past on the other carriageway going 20km to the next junction in order to come back...meh.

I would agree with you where there is a big distance between junctions like on m4 and m6 but the emergancy exits are only around 2km from exit 19

TechnoFreek

Arklow tie in looking in good shape. Seems the main work left is tarmac. Hopefully the rain predicted for most of this week doesn't impact that type of work.

murphaph

Can't be tooo many examples of roads experiencing such a fall from grace as to go from Nx to R to L.

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

D Trent

Patww79 wrote: »

I'm just glad they're not still the N's! Shows some real progress, used to be a whole day out going to Dublin.

Best thing too is that there'll be so little traffic on the old roads that you can go on a nice ramble down them for the sights the odd time.

Biker as well ?

secman

They will be grand roads to cycle on, like the old n11 from Gorey to Arklow, has very little traffic on it.

TechnoFreek

Facebook alive with July 13th as official opening. No source quoted though.

Gerryww

Wicklow Cllr Daire Nolan has confirmed the July 13th opening date on his social media account, search Dairenolancouncil

dmeehan

Gerryww wrote: »

Wicklow Cllr Daire Nolan has confirmed the July 13th opening date on his social media account, search Dairenolancouncil

Here's the post https://www.facebook.com/dairenolancouncil/posts/783957971722629

facebook.com/dairenolancouncil wrote:

Great news for County Wicklow motorists!
The new sections of the N11/M11 currently under construction are very close to completion and the road will be officially opened next Monday, July 13th.
The improvements to commute times, the improvements to road user safety and general overall improvements to this area of the county will be immense. Absolutely brilliant to see it finishing up, and ahead of schedule!

nordydan

murphaph wrote: »

Can't be tooo many examples of roads experiencing such a fall from grace as to go from Nx to R to L.

It used to think it was "all that", now its only fit for tractors and lost German tourists....

marno21

murphaph wrote: »

Can't be tooo many examples of roads experiencing such a fall from grace as to go from Nx to R to L.

The ex-N21, new N21 being the Castleisland bypass was detrunked directly from N to L, and the N22 into Tralee was detrunked only 2 years ago directly to L. Shows you the state these roads were in before upgrading them

could it just be the case that now the now motorway has been built that those roads actually go nowhere now as all the traffic has been taken away.

fred funk }{

Only seven more sleeps!